Please help tweak my itinerary!

[singingpixie]

Hi everyone,
It's getting close to my 90 day ADR window, so I've gotta finalize my schedule. Well, as final as it's going to be- DBF is the "spontaneous" vacation type, so I'm compromising and doing a minimum of planning (sit-down meals, night shows, etc) mostly for the evenings and letting our days be a little more flexible. We're going in early January, so we should be able to do this without suffering much from the lack of a minute-by-minute plan. Obviously, we plan to be in the parks more than I've mentioned- this is just the skeleton plan. Oh, and we'll probably spend a couple evenings at the Boardwalk, Pleasure Island, Disneyquest, etc. Anyway, here's what I have so far:
Wed 1/4: Plane lands at 845, ME to Pop. Hopefully be in Epcot by 11 or 1130. Lunch at Les Chefs de France. Back to the hotel to nap/settle in the afternoon when our room is ready, then dinner at the food court before MK EMH (I know, possibly crowded- but I'd like the chance to see the park at night, especially on our arrival day).
Thurs 1/5: Probably start the day at MGM, finish at Epcot for dinner at Teppanyaki, Illuminations and EMH.
Fri 1/6: MK early entry, then latest possible brunch at Kona Cafe. Rent Sea Raycers. I'd like to do dinner at Boma and then the late showing of Cirque this night (no tickets yet, but we definitely want to see the show!)
Sat 1/7: Start w/ AK early entry? Dinner at Le Cellier. This is one of the possible days we might be able to do Fantasmic- See it, then move quickly over to Epcot for a late dinner.
Sun 1/8- Nothing planned for the morning yet, we'll see what we want to see more of. Dinner at Marrakesh before heading over to MGM EMH (if all we do is ToT in the dark I'll be happy!). Should we do a really early dinner and try to see Fantasmic this night instead? Or will it be too crowded w/ EMH?
Mon 1/9- Epcot Early Entry, dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table.
Tues 1/10- Greatest hits day. Probably start w/ MGM early entry, then MK faves and maybe finish at Epcot if we have time. Our flight leaves at 845PM, so we'll probably be picked up by ME at around 545.

My problem: Biggest thing is Fantasmic. I'm trying to find a good time to see it because we CANNOT miss it (I really want to see it, and I promised my boss who used to work on it that I would).

So yeah, I guess most of the advice I need is about fantasmic, but any other tweaks would be welcome. Thanks! -Meg

 

[shann106]

All I have to add is, yes, you must see Fantasmic. It was my fav thing on our last trip. True Disney magic. It is always going to be crowded but the outdoor theater holds tons and tons of people, almost every seat is a good view. We arrived almost an hour early to get great seats but realized later that we could have come much later and gotten jsut as good of a seat.

Just wondering,Have you made priority seating for all of these places you want to eat? Cinderella's Royal Table books so fast that I would not get my hopes up unless you already haved it booked. A CM told me that it books full in less than 9 minutes of the day it is availble for priority seating. She had me start calling 5 minutes before the phone lines opened and hit redail until I got through. On the 5th day of this I finally got through and got a table. Book priority seating as soon as you can for each resturant you want to eat at, you can always cancel later

 

[singingpixie]

I don't have ADRs yet- I can't till 90 days out, and that's a little over a week away. Don't worry, I will be calling at 7AM. But that's why I'm trying to finalize now- so I can make the reservations and not have to change them later when things are booked.

 

[tsoccer5]

I am not sure if the Jan schedule is out yet, but sometimes when they stay open the extra 3 hrs they add a 2nd Fantasmic, I think it was stated that the later one (usually 10pm or later) is usually less crowded!

have fun!

 

[Lorelai]

If it is still offered - try and book the Fantasmic Dinner Package for the night you want to go. If they still have it available - choose to eat dinner at The Brown Derby - it's fantastic. Supposedly this should help you get prime seats for Fantasmic, but in January it might not be too hard to get good seats without the package. Just a thought! Have Fun!